Friday, August 26, 2016

The Grooviest Covers of All Time: Groovy August Debuts

Happy Birthday to Groove! Yeah, baby, Ol' Groove has now spent 53 years 'pon this spinning globe we call Earth--and I've spent most of 'em reading comicbooks! Not counting my own debut (I debuted pre-Groovy Age, don'tcha know), August was also quite kind to the world of comics--especially during the Groovy Age! So to celebrate moi, we're gonna celebrate a dozen-and-a-half magnificent comicbook milestones. Nope, they're not all first issues, but they're all first somethings! Do you know/can you guess/can you figure out why all the non-first issues were included in this pulse-pounding post? Share your knowledge and/or theories in the comments section--then have a slice of cake on Ol' Groove!

You're a sneaky one Groove - you nearly had me there, trying to figure out which Avengers debuted in those issues after 57. But its the first Adams, Englehart and Perez in the other three respectively, right?

Wasn't the first Warlord sort of a double-first, in that it was also an ish of 1st Issue Special? And since "1st" is in the title, does that make it a TRIPLE first?

I have to dig my longboxes out of storage and re-read that old classic one of these days... by that, I mean the whole Warlord series beyond the issues you've already posted here. I can think of far worse ways to spend the rest of the summer!

Happy birthday from a fellow small-town Kentuckian who also grew up reading comics during the Groovy Age! I have two of those books (first appearance of The Huntress and first issue of The New Teen Titans), and they are among my most-prized comics.

No wonder I always hated going back to school, when summer ended with excitement like this! The above list includes several of my all-time favorite comics.

Some major Avengers milestones up there: Avengers #57 was the debut of the Vision, of course. Avengers #93 saw the reunion of Roy Thomas with his all-too-brief X-Men collaborator Neal Adams in what turned out to be a criminally short time together on the book. Avengers #105 brought in Steve Englehart as writer, and issue #141 introduced George Perez to the series.

Iron Man 116Was the premier issue of David Michellini (spelled wrong I think), Bob Layton and J R Jr. which began their iconic run.Iron Man was always my favorite hero and it was good to finally see him get his due dilligence as one of Marvels mainstream characters.

Some good guesses! Except for inker Wally Wood, you're right about The Cat...I think! ;D Yep on Warlord; Right on Swamp Thing, except the "pilot episode" was in House of Secrets (#92); Right on CM; Right on Iron Man (he joined writer David Michelinie and penciler JRJR to complete the titanic trifecta!)

Belated Happy Birthday Groove. NOt sure when I discovered your blog, late 2014(?), but it's been a constant "blast from the past" ever since! (Just curious why you didn't show Cap Marvel 17, where he got his new (and much less preferred, from my perspective) uniform. I still dig your May 15, 2015, "How Green was my Mar vell!" and occasionally go back for a look.

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Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.

All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!